It's Not Just A Story
by Wolfling21
Summary: Spawned from Puckworld Isn't Quite Home. Duke hasn't told the team very much about his past or his home. But when two of his closest friends appear, the Underground becomes a lot more than just an urban legend for the rest of the team. And Duke is forced to reveal the secret that he rather not tell: Shadow Haven.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author: read Puckworld Isn't Quite Home first. Over the past few days, Shadow Haven has become a permanent location in my head and keeps expanding. I always wondered why Duke seemed to like the Magic Anahiem so much and now I know. Jade, Dagger, Shadow Haven and the Underground belong to me. Hope ya like**_

 _"Get your tail feathers out here Duke!"_

 _"Yeah yeah! I'm on my way!"_

 _He grabbed a case of drinks and headed down the stone stairs that led from his home to behind one of the black smith's shops._

 _One of the younger members of Brotherhood was coming of age and the entire city loved a good party._

 _He laughed as a few ducklings ran by him, chasing each other through the street._

"Duke?"

Duke groaned and buried his beak in his pillow, wanting to hide back in his memories.

"Duke?"

There was a soft hiss and his room lite up as his door opened.

"Go away." He groaned.

Footsteps entered his room and stopped beside him. A hand gingerly touched his shoulder, shaking him carefully.

None of the team came into his room without a good reason... He liked his privacy.

"Wake up." an urgent tone hissed.

The voice cut through his sleep clouded mind this time and he recognized it as Wildwing's.

"Dragonus?" He yawned.

"No. Borg." Wildwing told him.

He stared at the younger drake for a moment. "Borg? The prince from the magic Anaheim?" He asked.

"He contacted us and said we need to come to his Anahiem." Wildwing told him.

"I'll be ready in a few." Duke sighed.

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"Owww." Tanya groaned as she got up.

Traveling to the alternate Anahiem was never easy on them, no matter how much Duke enjoyed the place.

"Friends. Thank you for coming on such short notice. And I apologize for having to wake you Duke." Borg said with a warm smile.

"It's alright. I would've woken up soon anyways." Duke shrugged.

"Is something wrong Borg?" Wildwing asked.

"No signs of dragons so Asteroth isn't back." Mallory said, looking around.

"No, no my friends. My kingdom is quite peaceful since you defeated Asteroth." Borg smiled.

"Then why'd you call us little dude?" Nosedive asked.

"A pair of friends to one of you came to my realm quite recently." Borg told them.

They all glanced at each other, thinking of friends and loved ones they'd left behind.

For Wildwing and Nosedive: Canard and few others.

For Mallory: her father.

For Tanya: a few scientists she had known and worked with.

For Grin: his master Tae Quack Do, who could very well have passed.

And for Duke: members of the Brotherhood and residents of Shadow haven.

"They said that you would know how to find them once you arrived." Borg said, looking up at Duke.

Duke raised an eyebrow at the prince as he felt something warm and thick brush his arm.

Magic... One of the reasons he liked this alternate Anahiem so much.

The entire city was saturated with it... A lot like his home had been.

"What's he talking about Duke?" Mallory asked.

"Where I come from on Puckworld, magic still exists and we use it routinely." Duke whispered.

"Where is that?" Grin asked.

"The Underground." Duke breathed.

"Dude... The place isn't just a bunch of stories." Nosedive said, tugging on Wildwing's arm.

"Shh." Wildwing whispered as something crackled around Duke.

Duke took a deep breath, reaching for the magic around him to draw it to him. "Come on." He whispered.

The magic resisted for a few seconds before it poured through him, making him laugh hoarsely.

"Duke?" Tanya called.

"I'm alright sweetheart. Just forgot what this feels like." He chuckled.

Duke shoved the magic away from him, casting it like a net.

There was a flash then he saw a pair of chains wrapped tightly around each other, one gunmetal grey and the second a soft shade of gold.

"There you are." He whispered, grabbing a hold of the chains and pulling.

"What took you so long? You should have known we were here as soon as we got here." A voice called, sharper than he remembered but still familiar.

Two figures stepped out of the shadows to his right and one immediately ran up to him.

"Jade... I've missed you sweetheart." He laughed, hugging her tightly.

"I knew you were still alive. Even after you disappeared." Jade whispered, buring her beak in his shoulder.

The second figure limped over and hugged them both, squeezing him tightly and growled, "A lot of us thought you were dead."

"Dagger.. Babe." Jade hissed.

Duke sighed and looked them both over.

Jade's coppery feathers were dark with dirt and grime and her chocolate hair was cut shorter than he remembered. But her mis-matched eyes, one brown and the other hazel, were still full of warmth.

Dagger was favoring her left ankle some as she leaned against him. Her smokey grey feathers and silvery hair were dark but he knew once she got a shower, she'd look like herself. What worried him was the haunted look in her bright blue eyes.

"We need to get these two back to the Pond." He called.

"Who are they?" Mallory asked.

"Old friends." Duke told her.

Jade looked past Duke at Wildwing who looked the two new ducks over before nodding.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author: I became a busy girl over the past few days. Started on the Dresden books between watching either Mighty Ducks or Nickelodeon's TMNT. Anyways: enjoy. I own Jade, Dagger, Shadow Haven and The Underground._**

"What is this place? And why is it so hot?" Jade asked.

"It's called Anahiem, planet Earth.

On this planet the weather changes depending on where you are and the time of year." Duke told her, wrapping an arm around Dagger's waist.

"How do you live here?" Dagger muttered.

"Your feathers will thin out after a while. Even then, I go out mostly after dark when it cools down some." Duke told her.

"Do they have snow? Or hockey?" Jade asked.

"Snow, not here. Hockey? See for yourself sweetheart." Duke said as they entered the Pond.

Jade laughed and stepped onto the ice before smirking back at Duke and Dagger.

A swirl of snow drifted up from the ice at Jade's feet and made it's way up into the stands.

"Oh that feels good." Dagger sighed when the swirl of snow brushed over her.

"Trust Jade to do something like that." Duke smirked.

"More magic?" Grin asked.

"Yeah. The girls were always better at it than I was." Duke said.

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"It's not broken. Just a n.. n... a really bad sprain. I can give you some pain killers." Tanya said.

Duke leaned forward and set his hand on Dagger's ankle. It took a few seconds but a dark purple glow wrapped around her ankle. "Can't do much more than that. Our Anahiem doesn't really have magic." He sighed.

"Did you just heal her?" Tanya asked.

"No, just eased the pain." He said.

"What happened to your pendant Duke?" Jade asked.

"One of the Soriens took it and destroyed it when I got captured and almost stuck in one of the slave camps." Duke admitted.

"What pendant?" Wildwing asked.

Jade pulled off hers and held it up. "They help us draw on, focus and use magic. But even without them, we can still use magic... Just not as easily." She said.

Wildwing cocked his head, scanning the topaz gem on a gold chain. It gave off a strange energy signature and a similar one was being given off by Dagger. A third signature surrounded Duke but it was much weaker.

"So the Underground exists? And magic is something you guys use on a regular basis?" Mallory asked, straddling a chair.

"Not everywhere in the Underground. But in the city we lived in, a placed called Shadow Haven, yeah." Dagger yawned.

"Get some sleep sweetheart." Duke told her.

"Just don't go telling too many stories you shouldn't." Dagger muttered as she drifted off.

Nosedive sat on the ground at his brother's feet and looked up at Duke and Jade, looking as eager as a duckling.

"Think between the two of us we can show them Shadow Haven?" Jade asked.

Duke sighed, looking each of his team mates over. He trusted them with his life, with the knowledge that he had led the Brotherhood and now... With the lives of his friends and the knowledge of his home.

"Yeah I think so." He admitted.

Wildwing's eyes widened as the room darkened then lit up in shades of blue, green, purple and colors he didn't know.

"Wow." Mallory whispered, staring at the room which now resembled a massive cave.

Building sprang up in the center of the room and lights flickered on the walls.

"Welcome to Shadow Haven." Duke said as ducks of all ages, sizes and colors began to appear in the room.

"It's beautiful." Tanya whispered.

"This is where you grew up?" Grin asked.

"Yeah." Duke sighed. A shadow of himself, much younger than he was now, ran across the room to grab a young female duck around the waist.

The other duck laughed as another female duck joined them, throwing an arm around Duke's neck.

Jade smiled and whispered, "Dagger was born in Shadow Haven but Duke and I were both runaways from the surface world. Or as some of us in the Underground call it, "upstairs". It's mostly just a running joke though."

"So what's the Brotherhood?" Mallory asked as a shadow duckling toddled by.

"We kept Shadow Haven supplied with anything it needed. And kept it safe." Duke whispered.

"So how come you were a jewel thief?" Nosedive asked.

"It was a hobby mostly. Some of the 'Hood developed a taste for stealing things that we didn't need. But we found it fun none the less." Duke told them as the illusion wavered.

"Magic is difficult to use?" Grin asked.

"Not really. But there's not enough of it here to use it too often." Duke admitted.

The room lit up as the illusion broke.

"That was awsome." Nosedive said.

Jade smirked over at Duke who chuckled and stared at the ceiling.

"When the two of you are feeling better, we can put you into a more permanent room." Wildwing told her.

"Thank you. Dagger probably won't say it but we do appreciate it." She said.

"What happened to her?" Duke asked.

"I'll tell you later. After she's awake." Jade whispered


End file.
